The killers of a 15-year-old boy in London’s latest bout of knife violence have been jailed, as the tragic victim’s mother called for an end to the knife crime epidemic.
Daejaun Campbell was ambushed and stabbed with a machete as he walked along a path in Woolwich last September, during a spate of attacks to blight the area of southeast London.
Imri Doue, then 17, inflicted the fatal wound while Mario Balaz, 18, was also involved in the fatal attack - part of a gang feud over drugs.
At the Old Bailey on Monday, Doue, now 18, was sentenced by Judge Sarah Munro KC to life in prison with a 21-year minimum term after being convicted of Daejaun’s murder.
Balaz, now 19, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for Daejaun’s manslaughter.
Daejaun’s mother Jodie Taylor fought back tears in court as she branded the killers “pathetic cowards” who had tried to “justify their acts with lies” during the criminal trial.
“I keep asking myself when will the knife crime epidemic end. Enough young lives have been lost already”, she said.
“The justice system does not seem to deter acts like yours.
“The reality is actions like yours tear families and communities apart.”
Outside court, she criticised the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London, and Justice Secretary David Lammy directly, accusing political leaders of doing nothing while children are regularly murdered.
“Our children no longer have the luxury of sacred lives. As parents, we live and die in fear - fear that our child might be the next, fear that justice will once again look the other way”, she said.
“We’re told to stay calm, trust the system, wait for change. But how many more children must be buried before this country finally admits it has failed them?
“How many more mothers must scream into pillows because the streets have become open graves?
“The system is not broken, it is functioning exactly as it was built. To protect itself, to preserve appearances, and to silence the truth.
“Every time another child dies, we get the same rehearsed apologies, the same reports, the same empty phrase - ‘lessons will be learned’. But no lessons ever are, because no one in power pays the price.
“Daejaun wasn’t the first, and heartbreakingly he will not be the last.
“They will sit in their offices, write new talking points, and wait for our pain to fade from the headlines. It never does, it just moves house, from one grieving mother to another.
“And to those who lead this country - Keir Starmer, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy - you speak of reform while our children die. You talk about unity while your inaction tears families apart. You issue condolences, then return to comfort. We live with the aftermath, your words build nothing, your silence buries everything.”
The court heard Doue had received three convictions and one police caution for carrying knives between October 2020 and October 2023. Balaz also has two convictions for carrying knives in public, as well as convictions for drug offences.
In her statement, Mrs Taylor continued: “The authorities knew who these boys were - they always do. They had chances to act and didn’t. The system keeps giving second chances to those who destroy lives, and no chances to the lives they destroy.
“So no, the system hasn’t failed us. It has abandoned us. And until it learns to protect the innocent before it comforts the guilty, more mothers will stand where I stand, and more names like Daejaun’s will be carved into stone long before their time.
“Those who choose violence are given chances. Those who choose love are given graves.”
During his trial, Doue admitted arming himself with machete on the day of Daejaun’s murder, and openly told jurors he had done the same “hundreds of times” in the past.
Passing sentence, Judge Munro said: “The impact of Daejaun’s death reaches far and wide, and his death has left behind a huge void.”
She accepted Daejaun’s mother’s words, that the sentences she passed today will not stop other teenagers from carrying knives and stabbing others.
“Daejaun himself was a victim of local gang culture, who had clearly been groomed and sucked into a life of Class A drug dealing, as so many disaffected youths are”, said the judge, adding that he had “entered a world where carrying a knife was the norm”.
Daejaun was ambushed on September 22 last year when he walked past the house where Doue and Balaz were, in violence believed to stem from drug and gang rivalry.
The judge found Doue and Balaz had wore masks to try to disguise their identities, and set out that day with a plan to confront a gang rival.
Daejaun was himself armed with a knife, but he was quickly disarmed in the ambush before being pursued along a path by Doue, carrying a machete, and Balaz, who was not himself armed.
Daejaun was ultimately stabbed in the head and leg, and cried out “I’m 15, don’t let me die” as he was cradled by a member of the public. However his life could not be saved.
His murder came just four months before a close friend, 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, was also stabbed to death himself on board a bus in Woolwich.
In her statement, Mrs Taylor paid tribute to her “loving, caring, compassionate, and helpful” son, and fought back tears as she tried to describe the pain and loss she now endures.
“Your actions have inflicted immense pain on me and my family”, she told the killers. “You chose to destroy everything I and my family cherished.”
Mrs Taylor told the court her son had confided in a family member that he was planning to change the direction of his life, returning to school and putting gang involvement behind him.
Kelyan Bokassa was fatally stabbed by two 16-year-old boys with machetes on a bus in Woolwich on January 7 this year.
Before his death, Keylan had appeared in a music video entitled Gotta Eat, in which he was seen crouching beside a floral tribute to Daejaun.
The teenagers behind his murder were sentenced to life, with an order that they must serve at least 15 years and ten months in custody.
Kelyan’s mother Marie Bokassa made an appeal for authorities to do more to stop the violence, saying: “Our streets are bleeding.”
The court heard Daejaun had been exploited as a child and groomed by older youths into a gang culture.
It was said he was targeted for a “gang check” when he was spotted walking along the path in Eglington Road in the minutes before the stabbing.
Doue was caught on camera dropping his machete and leaning down to pick it up after the stabbing.
Daejaun fell to his knees in the street having suffered two stab wounds and six superficial cuts.
The exact motive for the stabbing was not determined, but prosecutor Mukul Chawla KC told the court Daejaun had been carrying money and drugs.
“He may therefore have been a person exploited, by reason of his age if for no other reason, to be used as carrier and supplier of drugs by organisations that will use younger people and other vulnerable people for those purposes”, he said.
“That may be or may have been the reason why he was attacked.”
Doue pleaded guilty before his trial to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.
He was given a police caution on 28 October 2020 after fleeing from officers and eventually being caught with a kitchen knife in his pocket. Just three days later, Doue was carrying a knife again - on Halloween – and was caught by police in a stop and search operation. That incident led to a referral order from a court.
On June 16, 2021, Doue pulled out a knife when he and friends had been rammed by two males on an e-scooter. He was given a youth rehabilitation order, which included supervision sessions and a four-month curfew on an electronic tag.
On October 2, 2023, Doue was convicted again of possessing a knife as well as affray, after he was “one of the main aggressors” in a street fight in which a male was stabbed.
After a guilty plea, he was given another youth rehabilitation order with another curfew and further supervision.
Balaz was convicted in April 2023 after he was caught riding around on an e-bike while wearing a balaclava and carrying a folded lock knife.
He claimed he had been carrying a knife to fix his bike when he was caught out once again by police in September 2023.
Balaz - who the judge determined has learning difficulties and a low IQ - was still serving a youth rehabilitation order for that crime when the stabbing of Daejaun happened.
Doue, of Brumwell Avenue, Woolwich, was convicted at trial of murder and admitted knife possession.
Balaz, of Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
